Finding The Writer From Within – My Whirlwind – By Joshua Lupoli

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My life has been whirlwind. I have lived in four different states in the past ten years, staying long enough in one place to make friends but never able to keep them. I’m a recent high school graduate raised in Philadelphia, Orlando, Nashville, and now just across the bridge from New Orleans.

My interests, much like the place that I live, changed greatly with time. I was never given the opportunity to really explore any interests, since I was always focused on being a nomad without a place to call home. When I moved to Louisiana, I was promised that I would be able to stay in one place whilst I went to high school- that promise was not kept, as I had switched schools between my freshman and sophomore year.

Broken promises made mainly by my parents about me staying in one place made me very jaded, not because I felt like they were liars, but more because I felt like we were powerless to keep our word. You can imagine that when I got to high school, especially after moving during my tenure, I was not at all a happy person. I didn’t have any solid aspirations for the future, just wanted to make friends, get out and become a lawyer, or a lobbyist, or a chef (my interests always switched very dramatically and greatly, much to the chagrin of my parents).

Somewhere along the way, I settled with being a writer, after gaining some inspiration.

It took patience, and it took a lot of me finding my niche and gaining exposure. I had a couple of really great teachers that fostered and welcomed my creativity. My theatre teacher had given me an outlet to express my ideas and my talents for speaking and writing. My broadcasting teacher used many of the works I had written in PSAs around campus, for ads to be posted online, and for short films we made for our classes. My english teachers all welcomed my orations of various short stories I’ve made. Dungeons and Dragons was a big help with that too; as a DM, you get a lot of creative license, but that’s the nerd in me talking.

Things came to me in a wonderful slieu of brain-bursting ideas. The minute I would get an idea, I would search for a keyboard, or a pen, and scribble down the baseline in the chicken-scratch I called my handwriting. I had the drive, and slowly but surely, I was developing the talent too. Having so many ideas to put down and speak out made things very difficult for me to express everything I was thinking at once. Luckily I had the ability to keep talking and talking until my friends finally said “alright, alright, we get it, we’ll do it.”

Some of those friends have achieved some great things. One of them is in the Air Force Academy. Another has his own editing company. Yet still, another one is a professional dancer. One of them, an aspiring director studying at Full Sail University currently in his second year, had called me one day about a project he was doing for school- he needed a writer.

He needed someone to write his film that he was trying to get produced, and he could outsurce from the university to do it. He had producers lined up, had contracts made and everything, and hundreds of miles away from me, I was the first person he thought of to write his dystopian future story set in 2079.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Out of all the people infinitely more qualified to write his film, he chose me. How, and why, would he be driven to such a decision?

This is what he said to me:

Josh, you have a huge amount of talent, and a huge amount of grit. When you see an idea, and I know you see it, you garner this huge amount of drive and inspiration, and immediately set to work. Not only that, but you’re fast and pretty damn good about it too. I want you to write this film not only because you’re my friend, but because you’re one of the greatest and most prolific hobby writers I’ve ever seen. I want to be the first to see you go pro.”

I couldn’t believe it. I smiled, I was elated, and true to form began working immediately. Within two months, I had the first draft of almost twenty scenes completed and sent to him and his producers for review. I’m still working on the revisions as I type this.

It took a lot of self-discovery, a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of people telling me “you can do it,” but it took the drive and the balls to say “not only will I do it but I’ll do it better than anybody else whilst I’m at it.” That desire to prove myself to the people that believed in me made me keep going with something that turned from a hobby into a passion. I was an angsty, jaded kid turned passionate reincarnation of Voltaire within three years- loving and hating every step in the way with no in-between. Now, I’m writing a feature-length film, and I have too many days of crying, too much aspiration, and too many people cheering me on to stop me now.

Joshua Lupoli has been a writer for several years, writing PSA’s and film scripts for the screen and radio since he was fifteen. He is now currently in charge of the script for an independent, feature-length film. In between, he has also been a DJ, an MC for several different events, and a sound technician for an entertainment company. He views writing as a passion, oration as a calling, and inspiring others as a lifelong goal.

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